Happy New Moment!

I write this on New Year's Eve, 2011.

So, today the end is upon us once again -- the end of another year, that is.  It's just another day meeting another day, another minute following another minute...so why do most of us find the particular moment when one year ends and another begins to be so significant?  Why do we feel that this moment is something worth celebrating?

The transition moment from one unit of time to another happens every moment.  But New Year's Eve is the only such transition moment that we, as a people, are aware of at the same time.  I think this sense of shared awareness of time (and space, because we also become conscious of the timezone we're in) is what makes this moment extra-special.

Becoming aware of time and space and our relationship to it is a very powerful thing; and becoming aware of this together unifies us in a powerful way.  We become more aware not only of time and space, but of all the other people in the world who are also aware of time and space -- at the same time, in the same world.

• Awareness of time.
• Awareness of space.
• Awareness of self.
• Awareness of others.
• Mutual awareness of time - self - other.
• Connectedness, sense of belonging, unification.

These are very potent ingredients for happiness, joy, and the unifying experience of deep love, just waiting for us to be open to them through our awareness of the latent goodness there.

People tend to celebrate New Year's Eve with other people, perhaps with the desire to heighten the joy inherent in this transition moment -- the timeless instant between moments -- by sharing it in the physical presence of others.

But it is the actual awareness of the above ingredients that is so magical, and this is not dependent on the physical presence of any other people at all.  The Joy of conscious awareness is something that happens within each of us whenever we open up to it, and it is available at each and every moment.  The magical transition between moments, the space within time, when the beginning meets the end, is eternally available, just waiting for us to notice it.

So, I wish all of you a happy new year, but especially...
an eternally Happy New Moment!